Minnesota Woman, also known as Pelican Rapids-Minnesota Woman, is the name given to the skeletal remains of a woman thought to be 8,000 years old. The bones were found near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota on June 16, 1931, during construction on U.S. Route 59. The bones were brought to Dr. Albert Jenks at the University of Minnesota, who identified them as the bones of a woman who was 15 or 16 years old, but who had never borne children. The woman had two artifacts—a dagger made from an elk's horn and a conch shell pendant. The conch shell came from a snail species known as Busycon perversa, which had previously only been known to exist in Florida.
For more information, click here. Or, Try these sources:
- "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 15, 1933, (Summary of 'Minnesota Pleistocene Homo . . .' by Albert E. Jenks)" (PDF). Can be read here.
- "MINNESOTA MAN: A REPLY TO A REVIEW BY DR ALES HRDLICKA, by Albert E. Jenks, 1938". Can be read here.
- Lass, William E. (1998) [1977]. Minnesota: A History (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04628-1.